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Famous Halal Cart on 53rd & 6th, Adds Another Cart on 7th

Blockbuster news in the Midtown Lunch inbox today. The famous 53rd St. and 6th avenue chicken and rice cart is expanding their empire to 7th Avenue. The new cart is parked on the SW corner of 53rd St. & 7th Avenue during the day now starting at 11:30 a.m. The sister cart on the SE corner of 53rd & 6th, who won the Midtown Lunch Street Meat Palooza is not effected. Got that? Let’s see if I can break it down for the uninitiated:

There is a famous chicken and rice cart that parks every night on the SW corner of 53rd & 6th from around 8 p.m. until 5 a.m. The line is down the street every night (you may have seen it before.)

The same guys have a second cart that parks on the SE corner of 53rd & 6th during the day, from Noon until Midnight. The food is exactly the same as the cart parked across the street at night.

Now, another cart that serves the same food is parked on the SW corner of 53rd & 7th starting at 11:30 a.m.

The guys at this new cart claimed that this is the very same cart that gets moved over to the SW corner of 53rd & 6th at 7:30 at night- but I’m not positive that is true. Either way, they’ve got the shirts, the plastic bags, and the awning of the famous cart, and the food looks exactly the same… so I guess in the end it doesn’t really matter. Simply put- Midtown Lunchers now have two places to get the Famous Halal Guys chicken and lamb over rice platter during the day. SW corner of 53rd & 7th and SE corner of 53rd & 6th. Very exciting!

20 Comments

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Thank god for this. Now I only have to cross the street for my street meat as opposed to walking a whole avenue to get it. The place that used to be on that block used to suck except they used to put the occasional falafel or french fries in your lunch.

Checked out the daytime spot on the SE corner yesterday thanks to this blog-easily the best street meat I’ve had yet. The chicken was excellent, and the free pita was a great addition. Can’t wait to go back.

I tried out the new location today. I have never had the original, but it was very, very good. However, you really needed to warn about the hot sauce! I like spicy, but my eyes are watering! I am now sitting at my desk worried about what will happen in the next hour.

I don’t go to the 53rd and 6th cart all that much, but the few times I’ve been, the line has been relatively short. I place the blame for the ridiculously long line that I didn’t have time to stand in today on your shoulders, Zach.

blehh…i been eating from this cart since i was a freshman in college after long hours of drunken partying…(almost 8 years now)

i gag at the smell of this stuff…and they have gotten considerably worse through the years so imagine how amazing it was back then…filled to the brim not the half filled bs they give you now…and a WHOLE pita…not 3 little spears…

but i must admit…for those first couple of year sit was pure bliss…would drive down from stony brook just for this stuff sometimes…ahh the good old days…

I just had the combo with rice on the SE corner of 53rd and 6th today for lunch. Yellow bags and yellow sweatshirts. But yellow sweatshirts didn’t have the logo on it.

I’m not sure if it’s the same cart as it is during the night because the food didn’t taste the same, especially the lamb. And the hot sauce was much hotter than it usually is. So I think it is one of several possibilities:

1. SE Cart is same, but because there isn’t the same long line, food isn’t fresh and quality suffers. You may be better off getting it at the copycat cart on the SW corner of 53rd and 6th during the day because there always seems to be a long line.

@boo – I took that white sauce photo yesterday, and it is definitely the same cart. You may be right about the line, and how it effects freshness… but eating at the daytime cart on the SW corner is not a good solution. I’ve eaten them both at the same time, and still think the SE corner is superior.

To anon … Thanks for the heads-up on the SW day cart. Yeah, the SE cart really wasn’t very good today. I think I’d rather brave the lines during the nighttime because the high turnover seems to be key.

But if you’re just in the mood for chicken, the Trini-Pak cart on 43rd and 6th beats 53rd and 6th cart by a mile. It is a lot more flavorful.